Duet
by OrigamiPaperAngel
Summary: Cronus tries to help Damara get over her language barriers. Pre-Sgrub AU, Oneshot.


Cronus couldn't really say that he was surprised at the incredulous look Damara gave him.

Actually, he was surprised she had even come at all.

"What…what you doing?" She asked, tilting her head, one eyebrow cocked much higher than was necessary.

He still wasn't sure whether he found it cute or irritating that she would always go to great pains in order to emulate the characters from her troll animes. Her current hairstyle was modeled after her new favorite character; rather than twist her hair up into its usual bun-and-chopsticks look, she had chosen to instead let it flow freely. Unraveled, her inky locks curled down all the way to her hips. When she had first changed her hairstyle, she had asked him what he thought; he'd responded with a wink and a Smokin' hot as always, dolly. She'd done her cute cover-the-mouth-with-her-hand thing, and hadn't swept her hair up in a bun since.

Cronus couldn't really say that he minded. She definitely looked sexier with her hair down than up (and he, of course, never opposed anything even remotely related to sex).

His response was smooth and accompanied by his typical sleazy smile. "Nothing much, really," he said. "Take a seat, I'vwe got something cool to show you." He patted the space besides him and she warily eyed the colorful blanket before taking a seat besides him. She looked around at everything he had brought: a couple of colorful books with titles like ___Learn Trollian the Easy Way _or___Shit Easy Trollian for Stupid-Ass Grubs_, his stereo, and even his beloved purple guitar.

"What you have to show me?" She asked.

"Something that'll help," he told her, absently strumming his guitar. "You told me a wvhile ago you vwanted some help with your Trollian, right?"

Her cheeks flushed automatically, and she ducked her head meekly. "私にしてください侮辱しないでください," she murmured.

"No, I'm not going to insult you!" He said quickly. "I just remember you said something a vwhile ago about havwing trouble with getting owver your language barrier, right?" She gave a slow nod, looking at him with a carefully controlled expression. "Wvell, bein' the nice guy I am, I'vwe been reading a bit about different ways to make mastering nevw languages easier—did you knowv that music is a great way to remember stuff?" Cue doubtful look, a la Damara. "No, really! Apparently singing songs in another language helps you become better with that language. Or something. But it's wvorth a try, right?"

She looked away and nodded her head to herself a few times, as though convincing herself of the idea, before she looked to him with a wide smile that showed off her dimples. "Okay!" She said, her voice bright and perky. "I am up. To try." He was just about to say something when she interrupted him. With a stern voice and an erect pointer finger, she said, "But. Only if you sing with me."

"No arguments here, baby," he said, flashing her a sharp-toothed grin. She never ___had _heard his singing voice, had she? It hadn't occurred to him before; he'd always assumed she must have heard some of his—___"Legendarily bad,"_ according to Mituna—music, but now he realized that it had never come up with her.

Now the prospect of having her experience his truly awe-inspiring music made him excited (he knew his music was extraordinary, no matter what Mituna, or Meenah, or anyone for that matter, said; they were obviously all jealous of his massive skill, not that he could blame them). Damara was a sweet, colorful girl once you got used to her thick East Beforan dialect, accepted all of her cartoonish behaviors, and embraced her meekness. She was also quite intelligent, despite what he had thought of at first, and thus, he was convinced that she would have refined enough taste to appreciate his high-class music.

He wouldn't hang out with just ___any_ rust-blood, after all.

…___Aw, shit__,_ he thought, catching himself. Kankri would have had a field day with that one. (At any rate, Cronus was still working on getting rid of all of those hemospectrum prejudices; obviously he had a long way to go, but he liked to think he was making progress.)

"Let's start with something simple," he said, picking up a book and flipping through the pages. He stopped at a certain page and held it out to her. "Howv's this one sound?"

She tilted her head to the side in her usual cute way. _"____You are my sunshine,"_she read. "Okay. Let's try!"

He gave a little smile and and began strumming his guitar to the tune, humming the song so that she would know how it went. Eventually she began humming it herself to get a feel, and when he looked at her she was scanning the lyrics with a look of intense concentration. He adjusted his grip on his guitar and cleared his throat, ready to sing. She had turned towards him when he restarted, so he looked into her eyes as he sang,_ "____You are my sunshine__…"_

She was quick to jump in, and together they sang, _"____My only sunshine…"_Her voice shook a bit with hesitance, but as she continued she sang with more confidence.

"___You make me happy, when skies are gray."_

With this line he had winked at her, making her blush and giggle. After her laughter had stopped, however, the rusty red didn't fade from her cheeks, and if anything it intensified when she sang the next line from the book.

"___You'll never know, dear…"_

She looked up at him when they sang, _"____How much I love you,"_making his own cheeks flush a pale violet. Damn, she was really cute—___too cute__,_ he thought, because he was almost too flustered to sing the next line.

Almost.

"___So please don't take my sunshine away,"_they finished in perfect unison. The last note from his guitar hung in the air for a couple seconds afterwards.

"So, what do you think?" Cronus asked after a couple of seconds, eager for her praise. He'd thought he sounded pretty sexy, what with his deep not-exactly-baritone-but-still-hot-enough-to-get-a-dame-out-of-her-panties-HOPEFULLY voice, and she didn't sound half-bad either.

Okay, he had to give it to her. She was more than not half-bad; she had a lovely singing voice, soft and melodious. He thought they made a damn good duet, and he was absolutely convinced that she felt the same way.

"Hmm…" She put her finger to her chin and tilted her head, pursing her lips. "I think… you are not best singer in all Beforus."

"WHAT?! You—but—" He was spluttering, speechless with shock.

She threw her head back and laughed, forgetting to cover her mouth, before she turned to him with a wide smile and flung her arms around his neck. After giving him a light kiss on the nose, she said, "But. Is okay. We should sing again!"

The kiss didn't help one bit with his inability to speak, and Damara had a couple of seconds to giggle to herself after drawing back.

"WVELL!" He finally managed to say. "No accounting for taste!" His face was a dark violet now, and he pouted when she crawled closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder and smile up at him. "Nyeh."

"What should we sing next?" Damara asked innocently, as if she had just insulted him. He wanted to stay mad at her for that comment, but she just looked so sweet and lovely, looking up at him with her big scarlet eyes and her plush, upturned lips that he decided to let it go for now. He couldn't stay mad at attractive people; helping them was what he was all about, after all!

Besides, s_he wvas probably just trying to flirt,_ he told himself, _I'm still a damn good singer, no matter vwhat_. _Her flirting skills do leave something to be desired, though…_

Good thing she was in the company of a master at flirting. He would have to teach her the right way to go about courting a troll.

When Damara reached for the song book again, he said, "No, I'we got a better idea."

"Hm?" She watched at he leaned over towards his stereo and began pressing a couple buttons. He fiddled around with it for a couple seconds before finding the right song, at which point he leaned back and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"How about 'Bump and Grind' by Troll R Kelly?" He asked her with a wolfish grin.

"Ooh, sounds baaad," she giggled. "How does it go?"


End file.
